In 1972, the Department of Commerce started the investigation and development of a standard under the Flammable Fabrics Act for upholstered furniture, the effect of which would be to reduce the hazard of ignition caused by smoldering dropped cigarettes. Subsequently, responsibility for enforcement of the Flammable Fabrics Act was transferred to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Commission identified ignition of upholstered furniture by carelessly dropped cigarettes as being the principal cause of death from residential fires. Since that time, the industry has adopted a voluntary program designed to reduce the hazard of cigarette ignition of upholstered furniture. In an effort to achieve this objective, the welt cord was developed.
Fire safety research had shown that, in the typical scenario, a burning cigarette is often placed at or rolls to a position where it is abutting the welt cord which is often incorporated as a design feature around the cushion perimeter in many items of upholstered seating. The cord location and construction make it particularly susceptible to cigarette ignition as the welt is covered with additional fabric which is sewn in such a manner so as to produce a double, triple or quadruple thickness of fabric, thus adding combustible fuel (the fabric and the welt cord itself) into the edges of the cushion. This additional fuel makes the edges of the cushion more susceptible to ignition by a smoldering cigarette or other ignition sources. While other efforts are needed to improve the cigarette resistance of furniture, improvement of the welt cord construction was and is critical.
This invention represents a substantial alteration of welt cord construction which will contribute significantly to a reduction in upholstered furniture fires by the use of a heat conducting welt cord which will dissipate the heat caused by a lighted cigarette and thereby prevent the ignition of the piece of furniture which would normally occur at the welt cord location. The use of a heat conducting welt cord is effective in eliminating the potential for cigarette ignition at the welt cord location where exposure to a lighted cigarette would normally result in self-sustaining ignition. Inclusion of a heat conducting metal such as aluminum foil or other strip-like heat conductive materials in the welt cord construction assists in dissipating heat away from the burning cigarette. This invention also envisions construction whereby a metallic thread is wrapped around the welt cord to substantially reduce the ignition propensity of the construction of the cord and drastically improve the fire retardant features of the upholstery into which it was incorporated.